Hakeem Olajuwon scored 18 points and Kevin Willis added 16 as
the Houston Rockets completely shut down the Sacramento Kings in
the fourth quarter for a 93-77 victory.

The Rockets trailed by one point after three quarters, but held
Sacramento to just seven points in the final period -- one more
than Olajuwon had.

Charles Barkley had 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Rockets,
who have won their first two games and continue to have
Sacramento's number. Houston won all four meetings last year,
holding the Kings below 95 points in each contest.

Mitch Richmond scored 21 points to lead the Kings, who lost
their home opener to Houston for the second straight season.
Billy Owens chipped in with 12 points and Bobby Hurley had 10
for Sacramento, which was just 1-of-6 from the foul line in the
fourth quarter.

The Rockets took the lead for good with a 10-2 spurt midway
through the fourth quarter with a pair of reserve guards making
key plays. Rodrick Rhodes stole the ball from Richmond and
coverted a layup to give the Rockets the lead for good at 76-74.
Brent Price followed with a three-pointer with 6:45 to play to
cap the burst and make it 79-74.

Olajuwon keyed the Rockets' dominant defensive effort in the
fourth, blocking four shots. He finished with eight blocks to
go along with seven rebounds and five steals.

"We had to pick up our defensive intensity," Willis said. "We
were turning the ball over far too much and we were going to end
up losing this game."

Houston had a seven-point halftime lead and extended it to 59-47
with 8:40 left in the third quarter. But Richmond scored 13
points in the period, including a three-pointer that capped a
10-2 run with 20.4 seconds remaining in the period that gave the
Kings a 70-69 lead.

"The Kings are a hard-working team," Houston coach Rudy
Tomjanovich said. "They basically outhustled us tonight, but we
were fortunate to turn it around."

Clyde Drexler finished with 12 points and eight rebounds for the
Rockets, who shot 47 percent (35-for-74) from the field and
forced 23 turnovers.

Lawrence Funderburke and Corliss Williamson chipped in with
eight points apiece for the Kings, who shot 40.5 percent
(32-of-79) from the floor and just 61 percent (11-for-18) from
the free throw line.

"We just didn't finish tonight," Sacramento coach Eddie Jordan
said. "I thought we would. We were going to the basket, we were
going to the line, but we took some real bad shots."